In my co-pending patent applications identified as follows:
Ser. No. 06/701,745 filed 2-14-85 for SALVE APPLICATOR now U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,565; and Ser. No. 06/702,800 filed 2-19-85 for MASSAGING DEVICE:
there are disclosed various therapeutic devices in the form of massaging units wherein heated air is passed through an applicator surface to a person's skin while massaging is taking place. Vibrating means may constitute an integral part of the applicator as well as means for applying a medicant to the applicator surface.
I have found that in addition to the excellent therapeutic results realizable by the various units described in the above applications, treatment of an area with the direct application of a warm plate and thereafter a cold plate, and then again the warm plate and then again the cold plate, the same separately, alternately, or otherwise can provide very beneficial results. This hot-cold application is similar to treatments wherein a person wil enter a hot sauna and then a cool pool and then back into a hot sauna. Usually the warm plate is applied about one and one-half times as long as the cold plate is applied.
To the best of my knowledge, there is presently no massaging unit or therapeutic device available which can provide for a hot and cold therapeutic treatment except by an air treatment disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 719,063 filed Apr. 2, 1985, for HOT AND COLD THERAPEUTIC APPLICATOR now U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,959.